So, there are a couple of things going on in the ID cars with connectivity and it's been talked about here a lot before.

There are 2 ways to connect your phone (you say you use an iPhone) to the car to do interactive things. And then there is the hotspot, which is something else completely different.

The 2 ways to connect are:

• Basic Bluetooth - these use the car's built in screens to do things with your phone (i.e. you are not using Apple screens to do them), which includes phone calls, streaming audio, etc. But NOT streaming apps or app based content nor connecting your phone mapping system to the nav system in the car.
• App Connect- this is wireless/wired Apple Carplay. This requires both a Bluetooth AND a wifi connection to your car, but it's a hidden wifi connection that you will not see. This part has nothing to do with the wifi hotspot when in wireless mode but you MUST have wifi turned on on your phone for it to work. The allows your phone to cast a second screen to the car showing the Apple CarPlay interface which then allows you to use the Apple based apps for features (phone, audio, guidance, etc.). The ID does have a way to send nav instructions to the small display to tell you where to turn, etc. but that's basically the only integration between your phone and the car.

The wifi hotspot is an additional paid service where you can also choose to connect any wifi device in the car to the car and thereby to the internet. It's a shared 4G device just like the pocket hotspots you can buy from your cell provider. If everyone in your car has a wireless data plan, personally there isn't really much need for the hotspot. But if you have iPads, laptops, etc. maybe it's useful for work or kids, etc. The hotspot functionality can be turned off in the car interface and the only way to know it it's enabled is to log into your CarNet profile and see, though since you bought the car new in 2022 I doubt it has ever been on or you'd be getting bills.

So, in short if you want to use Apple or Google Maps AND have them show on your binnacle, etc. then you need to find the App Connect button on your screen and follow those prompts to connect your phone to the car infotainment system. BT will NOT do that. If you use in the inbuilt nav, then you'd never see that point. Or you can just plug your car in via USB cable and it will connect and display your phone automatically.

 

Alas, while all of that may be true (and quite informative), that doesn't change the fact that Apple phones (ios 17.5.1) no longer work correctly with the id.4. CarPlay consistently says "unable to connect to server", which suggests that the phone is not using it's own cellular data for connectivity to the Apple or Google maps database, but is, in fact, looking for a Car-Net type connection, which most of us don't have and don't want to have. This happened suddenly to us in the middle of a trip on June 30, 2024, and we've been unable to properly use CarPlay since. Bluetooth for audio seems fine, but CarPlay simple doesn't work, especially with maps. Others have reported CarPlay seems to not work with ANY GPS-based application.

 

ok, thanks much. i'll take a closer look..

 

Also, the cherry on the top is to go into your iPhone WiFi menu and delete or "forget" your VW's hotspot. Because it's like keeping an ex's number in your phone directory, it's going to keep trying to hook up, even if you don't want it to! 😉

 

You can also get the system wrapped around the axle where it is trying to use the wrong WiFi address. If you use "forget this network" on the phone and start all over it can be made to work.

Also I find that switching between wired and wireless tends to get things tangled up. Choose one or the other.

And there is a bug where if you're using CarPlay and Apple Maps and ask Siri to navigate you, and something fails in the cell connection at the wrong time, the system can get into a loop where Siri keeps repeatedly telling you that "something's gone wrong." Turning off and then on the phone seems to reset whatever is messed up. I've never had this with just using the phone; it appears to be something about the CarPlay + Maps + Siri + cell combination.

 

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CarPlay consistently says "unable to connect to server", which suggests that the phone is not using it's own cellular data for connectivity to the Apple or Google maps database, but is, in fact, looking for a Car-Net type connection, which most of us don't have and don't want to have. This happened suddenly to us in the middle of a trip on June 30, 2024, and we've been unable to properly use CarPlay since. Bluetooth for audio seems fine, but CarPlay simple doesn't work, especially with maps. Others have reported CarPlay seems to not work with ANY GPS-based application.

I'm not sure why you're seeing this issue, but it's helpful to understand how wireless CarPlay works in general to help troubleshoot connectivity issues. Initially, the phone does a handshake via Bluetooth to establish a connection with the car, then the phone connects to the car via WiFi via a hidden WiFi connection. WiFi is used to cast an interactive CarPlay interface image from the phone to the car's display. During the time the car is connected to the phone and using CarPlay, the phone's WiFi connection cannot be used for anything else (like connecting to the car's own internal Wifi hotspot, which is a whole separate thing from the infotainment's hidden WiFi it uses for CarPlay).

After the car is connected to the phone via the hidden WiFi network and you see the CarPlay interface on the screen, all network connectivity happens via your phone's cellular network connection. WiFi is not used and cannot be used at all for network connectivity during this time. Also, my understanding is that all apps that use GPS on the phone use the car's GPS antenna rather than the phone's built-in GPS antenna.

So, given this architecture, if you are seeing the CarPlay interface and getting an "unable to connect to server" error, then the issue is that the phone for whatever reason cannot reach the network server to pull down map data. The reasons might include 1) problem with the cellular carrier's network, 2) problem with the phone's software in establishing a cell network connection, 3) a problem with the connection to the server serving up map data to your phone, 4) a problem with the map server itself, 5) a problem with the Apple CarPlay software that prevents it from connecting to the server. Note that ALL of these potential causes have nothing to do with the car itself.

If you are seeing GPS issues (e.g. maps show wrong location in CarPlay, but correct location when not connected to CarPlay), then the problem is something with the car's GPS system.

The things I would try first are:

1. Remove the car from CarPlay (Settings > General > CarPlay > (choose car) > Forget This Car), and set up the CarPlay connection to the phone from scratch.
2. Hard reset the phone.
3. Reset network settings on the phone (Settings > General > Transfer or Reset Settings > Reset > Reset Network Settings).

 

like connecting to the car's own internal Wifi hotspot, which is a whole separate thing from the infotainment's hidden WiFi it uses for CarPlay

It's not completely separate, unfortunately, and I believe this is the heart of the problem people have with iPhone internet connectivity while using wireless CarPlay. If you use a WiFi scanner, you'll see that the car only provides a single WiFi network (well, technically two, one 2.4 GHz and another 5 GHz, but they share the same SSID).

Starting with a phone and car that have never connected to one another, if you pair CarPlay (either using bluetooth or by plugging in), the phone will connect to the car's WiFi to pass CarPlay data back and forth and will never try to use that connection to connect to the internet. In most cases, this is what everyone wants.

On the other hand, if you first connect that phone directly to the car's WiFi, it will always try to use that WiFi connection to get to the internet, even when using CarPlay. If the car doesn't have an active hotspot connection, the phone will no longer be able to get out to the internet to do anything.

The solution is to "forget" the WiFi network and don't re-add it. Don't try to reconnect to the WiFi network at all. Pair the phone to the car over Bluetooth or a wired connection and let CarPlay handle the WiFi connection automatically in the background. The phone will no longer think it can get to the internet over WiFi and won't keep trying.

There are a few little interface issues, both on the iPhone and on the ID.4, that make this extra confusing. First, the ID.4's "Infotainment as hotspot" setting is misleading. When you turn this off, you're turning off all WiFi on the vehicle, not just the hotspot, so wireless CarPlay will stop working, too. This makes sense when you consider that the car only provides a single WiFi network. There's no way to "turn it off" as a hotspot while leaving it active for CarPlay.

On the iPhone side, I think it's confusing that it will show WiFi as "Not connected" even while connected to the car for CarPlay. A more technically-correct wording would be "Not connected for internet" as the car and phone do have an active WiFi connection, but the phone won't try to use that connection to get to the internet. In fact, the car's "Infotainment as hotspot" screen will show the phone as a connected device, even if it's only connected via CarPlay.

One other potentially-confusing thing is that Apple devices sharing the same Apple ID share their WiFi knowledge. So if you once connected your MacBook to the car's hotspot, your phone will also try to connect to that hotspot. This works both ways, so if you forget a network on the phone, it's forgotten on the MacBook, too.

 

I would also ensure the phone’s Wi-Fi settings Auto Join Hotspot is set to Never and Ask to Join Networks is also set to Never" after deleting the car’s hotspot.

 

This same problem started back in May when my iPhone would only connect with my MY23 AWD Pro S with 29Kmi via WIFI. It first started with Waze showing "Using off network map." When I tried to connect using Bluetooth only and turning WIFI off on my iPhone it would not connect. When I allowed it to connect via WIFI I had no cellular data. Going forward on a trip from DFW to Mobile that started on June 1, 2024 my On Board Charger failed in Beaumont and I was able to get to a dealer in Houston. Of course the OBC was back ordered and VWoA customer care has been working with me to exopodite the part which has arrived, not with the help of a hurricane. While I was at the dealership I told them about the issue of my iPhone not connecting but only through WIFI. I'm now being told there is a module in the infotainment system, that is back ordered, that needs to be replaced to correct the issue. VWoA customer service is on board with this and I awaiting and answer. Here we are in mid-July and still waiting to get my car back all because of parts supplies.

My wife is hopeful that I will my car back soon so I will stop taking her car. Also, she is a little concerned about our next planned trip to Kentucky.

 

As a follow up, I told my phone to forget the WiFi and rebooted my phone then I did a factory reset from the infotainment settings. Then turned everything back on and paired Bluetooth only. The next time I drove the car it asked me to turn WiFi on my phone to connect. It would only connect via WiFi but then no cell data on my phone. After that it ended up at the Dealership in Houston when I was on my road trip. Now I wait to see what they will come up with.

 

First, CarPlay kicks off with Bluetooth. Go into your iPhone Settings -> Bluetooth and ensure it is On and connected to the car. If it doesn’t connect, click the blue I with a circle around for the car, scroll all the way down and click Forget This Device, then pair them again.

Second, go to the iPhone Settings -> WiFi and make sure it is On. At the bottom, set Auto-Join Hotspot to Never. Set Ask to Join Networks to Off for now. If the car hotspot is in Other Networks with your neighbors’ WiFi, that’s where it should be. If the car hotspot is below the On/Off switch or is in My Networks (where your configured home and maybe work networks can be), you MUST click the blue i with the circle around it and click on Forget This Network. Confirm if necessary. It doesn’t hurt to power cycle the iPhone and make sure the settings held.